Narooma News fishing report: Jan. 29

Jan. 29, 2014, 10:56 a.m.

The fishing report for Narooma and Bermagui:

Narooma News fishing report: Jan. 29

LIGHTHOUSE KINGFISH: Sammy Jeffery from Junee with a cracker kingfish the biggest of five caught at Montague last Wednesday with Wazza & Simon of Lighthouse Charters. The punters enjoyed a great morning of rod bending action releasing over 40 fish on a hot bite on the north end of the island

BAIT BALL; Check out this bait ball that Capt. Andy on The Sheriff encountered off Tuross the other day!

NICK’S BASS: Weather kept Playstation skipper Nick Cowley off the water on Friday afternoon, so he snuck out to the Tuross River to get this nice bass on a Sigler popper in the rain.

SHERIFF SNAPPER: Steve and Kane from Victoria got into the snapper off Tuross on Saturday fishing with Capt. Andy on The Sheriff. Capt. Andy and his guests had another great day on Monday getting 11 snapper and lots of other fish.

HARRY FISH: Narooma fisherman Harry de Haas with a very colourful butterfly gurnard he caught along with an Esky full of flathead on Australia Day.

PLAYSTATION KINGFISH: Dave from Young, NSW on Charter Fish Narooma’s Playstation on Thursday with his nice keeper kingfish. The boys managed to get two fish up to 90cm past the seals.

PLAYSTATION KINGFISH: Tony from inland NSW on Charter Fish Narooma’s Playstation on Thursday with his nice keeper kingfish. The boys managed to get two fish up to 90cm past the seals.

LAURIE’S BASS: Laurie from Bermagui not only caught his first ever bass, he also got the biggest fish of the day on Brogo Dam, just over 40cm, on Thursday fishing TT Spinnerbaits at the bank.

JOSH BASS: Josh Mccue from Bermagui with another nice bass from a session on Brogo Dam on Thursday afternoon fishing TT Spinnerbaits at the bank.

EDITOR CATCH: Narooma News editor Stan Gorton with his best bass from a session on Brogo Dam on Thursday afternoon fishing TT Spinnerbaits at the bank.

MIXED CATCH: What a day at Montague Island on board The Sheriff with Capt. Andy Legg. Alex and family from Canberra got 14 long fin perch, 68 mowie, five flathead, six leatherjackets, 30+ Bernard perch and 11 snapper!

Lalit Prasad proudly displays the Australia Day Catch! A great mornings fishing with Wazza & Simon of Lighthouse Charters Narooma. Looks like fish for dinner!

TINY MOWIE: Even seen a morwong this small! Caught and released on The Sheriff out of Narooma earlier this week.

CHAMPION BOAT: The crew from David Cassar's (second from right) champion boat “Slammer” tagged four marlin for the comp.

CHAMPION LADY: Carly Bexterman, champion lady angler, another novice angler, who caught her first three marlin in the comp.

CHAMPION FRY: The champion small fry award went to angler Mathew Sandy who is pictured with club president Paul Blacka.

SOME local
offshore fishers are considering selling their boats and buying wind
generators, after yet another week of blustery conditions - one day from the
north then a quick change to a strong southerly.

For those fishers
who are able to get out in the “window” between the wind changes they have been
rewarded with great catches of snapper and flathead.

The lesson this
week has been that the best fishing at Montague Island has been in the
afternoon, especially when there is a high tide just before dark.

A couple of
charter boats have ventured out in the afternoon over the weekend with the
result being great sessions on pan sized snapper.

Try and
experiment with different rigs, the best results have come from long leaders.

Just when the
holiday makers were travelling home on Monday, the marlin decided to have a
bite.

One boat reported
9 hook-ups by 10am, with fish up to 90kg hooked just over the first drop off.

The Bermagui
Bluewater Classic saw a dozen marlin tagged and released on Monday, with only
five on Sunday and the comp called off on Saturday due to the weather.

Dolphinfish have
also been taken around the cray pot buoys between the first drop off and the
second drop off, but remember the minimum size is 60cm.

The kingfish at
the island are still around the 63cm mark, with the occasional legal fish being
taken.

The local experts
say that the season is about six weeks behind and we should have a good run in
February after the next full moon.

So, fingers
crossed things should be excellent by Easter.

If you are after
good-sized slimy mackerel, there are plenty about 800mts offshore from the golf
club down to the cemetery, watch your sounder to find them and “Sabiki” jigs
are the proving to be the best method.

On the estuary
scene, now that the crowds have left things should really pick up at locations
such as Wagonga Inlet at Narooma and Tuross Lake, which do suffer from boat
traffic.

A few locals have
been getting into the bass on the local dam and also rivers.

Try the TT
Spinnerbaits or even poppers on a warm sunny afternoon - you can’t have much more fun than that!

Bermagui hosts
Bluewater Classic

THE Bermagui Big
Game Angling Club (BBGAC) on the Australia Day long weekend hosted another successful
Bluewater Classic.

A total of 53
boats and 201 anglers competed in this year’s Classic.

Competition on
Saturday was called off due to rough weather but Sunday and Monday turned out
well, with 17 marlin tagged and released.

BBGAC president
Paul Blacka said the club was very pleased with the continued and growing
emphasis on tag and release.

“Of well over 100
fish recorded, only one fish was captured and that was a 180kg mako shark,”
Blacka said.

“We are pleased
with more and more anglers wanting to tag and release.”

Monday was the
pick of the days with 12 marlin tagged on that one day.

Mr Blacka thanked
the major sponsor local business Bermagui Bait & Tackle, as well as the
other sponsors of Shimano, Yanmar, Yamaha and Simrad.

Male champion angler
was Shimano representative David Cox, who caught his first two marlin ever in
the competition and donated his prize to his tag pole operator John Parbery.

Carly Bexterman,
champion lady angler, was another novice angler, who also caught her first three
marlin in the comp.

The young anglers
known as “small fry” had a ball on striped tuna and champion small fry angler
Mathew just wanted more mahi mahi – “They were great," he said.